Having not ran a marathon for almost 25 years, if I was ever to run another one, I would sensibly chose one which is flat and the weather would be perfect; not too hot like Cayman, nor too cold like New York. I took the challenge and signed up for the Disney Marathon; a perfect selection, right!!!

I was warned by Wendy Freeman (who insanely had done the Goofy Challenge with Colin in 2009, which is the half marathon on Saturday followed by the full marathon on Sunday) that it might be a little chilly and I should take an extra T-shirt or bin liner just in case. Having checked the weather forecast the day before the race, it appeared that Orlando was being hit with its coldest spell in living memory and the coldest day would be race day! Still, a cold day in Disney can't be that bad can it! Surely not like the olden days when we had to run school cross-country in the snow during winter times. Was I in for a shock and probably the other 17,000 runners too! 

I arrived at the car park about 3.30am as I wanted to beat the traffic and didn't want to be parked too far away from the start, plus I wanted to check out the start and finish line, and whatever Disney was laying on. As I got out of the car, I immediately felt the icicle forming in the end of my nose!!! I'm not kidding!! seriously, don't laugh, this was Orlando Disney, and I was freezing. So much for checking out the startline, I dived straight back into the car and put the heating on and the heated seat. It was pretty obvious that the weather was unlikely to change dramatically in the next few hours and my shorts and singlet were a little underdressed. I chopped and changed my clothes over the next 90 minutes, in between being brave enough to step out of my comfort zone  to see how effective, or not, the clothes were likely to be. In the end, I had three layers of tops including my windproof jacket, lycra shorts, long socks and tracksuit pants plus a winter hat. Basically, all my after race clothes.

The warm up was definately out. Sod that for a game of soldiers. I stayed in the car for as long as I could and eventually decided it was time to venture to the start line. As I was shivering my way in the pitch black and followed thousands of other runners, there was a  nice firework display. I didn't realise at the time, but that was the signal to start the race and I hadn't even made it my Corral, never mind the start line. I was right at the back of the first Wave and was nowhere  near the pacemaker who I wanted to run with - there goes my 3.30 I thought.

I was zigzagging, dodging and weaving and trying all ways to get past the slower runners. Being forced off the road, I even twisted my ankle in the first mile, but thankfully, it was one I could run off and it went about 30 seconds later. After a few miles, the field was thinning out; I was running freely and felt surprisingly good. It was still freezing cold weather but I was warming up a little - I even took my hat off. When I got to the half-marathon point, I had caught the 3.30 pacer and I was amazed that I still felt quite good. I decided that I had been running faster than the pacer, so why not go past him and see how long I could hold the pace. The only thing in the back of my mind was that I had just run a half-marathon slightly quicker than the time I produced one month earlier in the Cayman event and was this a good decision!

Having only run 18 miles only a few times in training, I did wonder how I would handle the race from that point, and as it got nearer, I wondered if I should slow down or just keep going. In the end, I just went into auto mode and felt great as each mile passed by. I started to feel tired with about a mile or so to go, but having run all that way, there was no way I would falter too much; it was a case of dragging myself to the finish line. My target was 3.30 and the time on the clock was 3.25.15. However, as I had missed the official start, the actual chip time was recorded as 3.18.40 which I am very happy with. In the end, although I ran the entire marathon with all those extra clothing, I do believe the cold weather helped my performance.

I have never considered myself as a marathon runner before, but I truly enjoyed the event and am very  tempted to try another one soon. Only, I will try to find one with slightly warmer weather :)